Beaten In The Boardroom

10 May 1986

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Ecurie was not one of Millard's raiders sent to plunder the Transvaal stakes, kept instead for the Natal season with the Guineas at Greyville as her opening challenge. Sent out a 11-10 favourite against some classy male sophomores, the filly had them all beaten at the line, only to lose the race in the stewards' room.

In a true run race, Ecurie was the first to go after the leaders in the straight, with Another Treat moving up smartly on her outside and Model Man poised to strike between the pair. About three hundred out, Ecurie deviated from a straight path towards Another Treat and shut off Model Man, who was forced to check.

Model Man, second in the betting at 2/1, lost whatever winning chance he might have had, and jockey Basil Marcus had no hesitation in lodging an objection, not only against Ecurie, but also against Another Treat.

Another Treat had got his head in front close home, but Ecurie responded gamely to a vigorous ride form Felix Coetzee to get up and snatch the photo decision. In the meantime, longshot Never Blue, enjoying a clear passage on the extreme outside, came flashing through late to be three-parts of a length further back in third at the line.

Ecurie would have been the first filly in more than fifty years to have won the Guineas. As it was, the R91.500 winner's share of the stake went to Really and Truly colt Another Treat - who had been voted the top juvenile male the previous season and whose earnings leapt to R240.225. Ecurie was demoted to fourth, behind Model Man.

Model Man

MODEL MAN (1982c, Elliodor - Top Model by Filipepi). Bred at the Cohen\'s Odessa Stud in Ceres, Model Man is one of just a dozen foals in the first crop of Lyphard-stallion Elliodor. A 38.000 National Sale yearling, Model Man was trained by Patrick Lunn in Natal. He made his debut in the last week of his 2yo season, winning a 1200m Juvenile Plate by three lengths. The follow-up was impressive: four consecutive wins early at three, including the Gr2 SA Invitation Stakes. Model Man met with defeat for the first time in the Richelieu Guineas, over the sprint/miler\'s Milnerton 1600. He\'d been interrupted in his preparation, and in a race run in a howling South Easter failed to quicken up the straight.
Following wins in handicaps, he lined up for the Gr1 Chris Smith (Natal) Guineas. Model Man ran well; badly interfered with in the closing stages, he finished 4th, beaten 2 lengths. The Gr1 SA Two Thousand was next. In a heroic battle he was just shaded by Potomac, after shifting markedly in the closing stages, but for which he might have won. The pace was hot, the time fast and the race an exceptional one, beyond doubt the best of the SA season.
Model Man reappeared a month later in the Rothmans July. Always well placed, he ran a good race, but may have found the distance just a little beyond him. He took his chance just three weeks later in the Mainstay, over 1800m at Clairwood, badly drawn in a field of 15. Contrary to his previous runs, he raced well off the pace in a very fast run race, to produce breathtaking acceleration in the straight, overtaking most of the field and winning going away.
His 4yo career was full of highlights, with wins in the Hawaii Stakes, J&B Met, and Schweppes Challenge. He ran second in the Rothmans July (to Bush Telegraph) and Mainstay (to Main Man), in both races worse off at weight-for-age with the winners. He was the unofficial Horse of the Year in the flu-interrupted 1986/87 season, for which the Jockey Club had cancelled all racing awards.
Model Man scored twice as a 5yo, in the Champion Stakes and remarkably over 1100m, with topweight in a strong A-division handicap. In the process he became South Africa first equine millionaire.
Syndicated for a million Rand, Model Man\'s stud career started where he\'d been born, at Odessa Stud. His progeny includes 2yo Champions Special Preview and Private Reserve, 3yo Champion League Title, and highclass Amberpondo and Glamour Boy. He died following a paddock injury in 2005, having sired 18 crops and 893 foals, including thirteen individual Gr1 winners (7 colts, 6 fillies).
Legacy: Gr1 J&B Met, Gr1 Schweppes Challenge, Gr1 Mainstay 1800, Gr1 Hawaii S., Gr1 Champion S.; Horse of the Year 1986/87; sire of 13 Gr1 winners

Another Treat

ANOTHER TREAT (1982 c, Really And Truly – Noble Nurse by New South Wales). Bred by Birch Bros, Another Treat was by resident Vogel Vlei sire Really And Truly. Another Treat became one of 8 winners from Really And Truly’s second crop of 23 runners, and helped push the stallion to third on the list of Sires of Two-Year-Olds in South Africa. Dam Noble Nurse had previously produced Cape Derby winner Impressive Style and was Broodmare of the year for 1985.

Another Treat, lot 353 on the second day of the 1984 Germiston Sales, was knocked down to Cecil Treger for R15.000, and went into training with David Payne.

Another Treat had an unblemished juvenile career. He won on debut at Kenilworth on New Years’ Day and followed up at Milnerton 11 days later. He shipped to Durban for the Natal season and came out to win the African Breeders’ Stakes in April. He closed his juvenile season with a win in the Administrator’s Champion Juvenile Stakes at Clairwood, as unbeaten winner of 4 races for R59.475 in stakes. He was voted the Champion 2yo Colt.